What To Expect When You Come Of Caffeine

I recently decided to come off of caffeine for a while. I do this occasionally just to check I have the will power to do it and I suspect it is good for my body in terms of giving it a bit of a break.

In my mind caffeine is a mildly addictive drug. The means you body adapts to regular consumption of it and have a withdrawal symptom when you stop consuming it. 

For me this means about two days of quite bad headaches. I usually suffer these without pain killers as I feel it is cheating to mask the withdrawal symptoms of one drug with another one.

After about two days these symptoms pass and I feel fine. While I do occasionally rely on coffee to keep me away when I am not using (sorry I mean consuming :) it I find the need for it greatly diminished. I guess I just sleep better. 

Coffee disrupts my sleep which means I need coffee to to keep going in the day. A viscous cycle. Caffeine is a clever little drug!

I usually time my withdrawal symptoms to be mid week as dealing with children and having a raging head ache is not fun. It is better to be at work slumped at my desk.

So if you come off caffeine expect a couple of days of headaches and feeling really bad and then it all rapidly goes away.

I usually try to stay caffeine free for about a month before introducing small abouts back into my diet. I am afraid I like coffee to much to give it up for good.